B. B. Fowler ‘cash railway’

The “Lampson’s cash railway” that B. B. Fowler began using at his downtown Glens Falls mercantile on May 8, 1883 reduced waiting time for the customer and enabled the clerk to get to the next customer sooner.

“Fowler’s cash railway began running yesterday and carried its freight of money to and from with promptness and precision,” The Morning Star reported.

For the first few days, however, customers might have had a hard time getting into the store.

“Hundreds of spectators were present, even blocking the sidewalk for a time, attracted by the novel exhibition.”

The system worked similar to a ball-return system at a bowling alley.

A clerk in any department could put a sales slip and the customer’s money inside a small ball, and set the ball on an inclined rail that led to the cashier’s desk at the back of the store.

The cashier recorded the sale and put the receipt and change back into the ball, which was returned to the clerk on a separate inclined rail.

“The structure is as attractive and novel in its appearance as it is convenient.”

The system replaced the use of cash boys to run transactions back and forth between clerks and the cashier.

William Stickney Lamson, a Lowell, Mass. cloth retailer experimented for several years with ways to expedite the transaction process, and eventually came up with the cash railway system, Tony Wolf wrote in a Sept. 29, 2015 essay published on atlasobscura.com.

In 1882 Lamson established the Cash Carrier Company in Boston to manufacture and market the system.

Also in spring 1883 Fowler installed a plate glass window in the front of the store and installed “elegant window shades in red, with the words, ‘Fowler, dry goods and carpets.’ in tasteful black lettering.”

The Morning Star said the improvements made the facade “as attractive as any in town,”

“The glass is said to be the clearest and best ever put up here.”

B.B. Fowler and his brother purchased the business in 1869 from W.W. Rockwell. The brother dropped out of the business a few years later.

The B.B. Fowler store and 15 other buildings on the west side of Glen Street were destroyed in 1902 in what become known as the Third Great Fire of Glens Falls.

Fowler rebuilt.

The building now houses Downtown Social eatery and lounge on the first floor and JMZ Architects and Planners on the second and third floors.

Sources: The Morning Star April 14, 26; May 8, 9, 1883.

Click here to read my most recent previous B.B. Fowler history post.